I feel I’ve made a bunch of snacks for Fill Your Freezer February, but I know wants this snow and cold snap breaks my kids will be back to playing outside and enjoying our nature walks. In return that means they’re always hungry!
I got a happy surprise yesterday while making enchiladas for dinner tonight!
I was able to make a few extra enchiladas beyond what was able to fit in my pan; I tucked these extras into a freezer gallon bag, labeled them burritos and added to the freezer!
Today’s freezer friendly oatmeal bar recipe can be eaten as part of breakfast or as a snack!
I had to go searching for the internet for this oatmeal bar recipe, and thank goodness I found it again! I now need to go write it down in my recipe box — if you don’t have one — I encourage you to! There’s nothing like keeping favorite recipes close at hand and share with others when they ask!
(more…)Anyone else eat hot pockets as a kid? Which is better ham and cheese or pepperoni pizza? Well, today I made homemade ham and cheese hot pockets – some to fill the freezer and some for lunch!
The kids enjoyed them and then told me I need to make them more often! I agree they were delicious and healthier and once made, will be easy to take out of the freezer and pop in the oven to reheat.
For the bread dough I use my pizza dough recipe (it really is so versatile!)
This weekend I made another batch of chicken broth to stock up the freezer. Chicken broth/ bone broth is something I continuously make at least once a month, because we go through it so much.
This is another family favorite snack (or dessert) to fill your freezer with! Did you miss yesterday’s freezer snack post?
I’ve been making these for years and years! It is easy to change up flavors by adding things like nuts, cranberries, flavored chocolate chips, etc.
(more…)Today I’m sharing one of my kids favorite snack! You can buy these and then freeze, but taking the time to make them taste so much better!
(more…)I have a super simple addition to the freezer today: ice cream!
But really, we have a birthday boy tomorrow and that means a full family day eating and playing however my 4 year old wants!
I spent yesterday afternoon naptime working in the kitchen. I’m getting ready to do my monthly grocery shopping trip this weekend and see what else I wanted to be cooking up for Fill Your Freezer February.
In order to do both I need to inventory the pantry, look through the freezer, and clean out the fridge.
Cleaning out the fridge is an easy way to add to the freezer!
Here are 3 ways I do this:
1. Fruits and Vegetables.
Bananas going brown? Broccoli going limp? Moving these items to the freezer will both save you money and save you time in the future.
One downfall of monthly grocery shopping – true monthly grocery shopping without mid month grocery runs- means you either run out of the fresh fruits and vegetables OR it means that well meant, new dish you had planned doesn’t sound so good but you bought the extra ingredients.
But that is how Fill Your Freezer challenge is helpful! By having a system that slowly adds to the freezer, even months where your shopping doesn’t completely cover all 90+ meals a month comes in handy!
2. Leftovers.
Remember the chili I made and froze? Normally I would have kept that in fridge and had it for another meal, but I put it in the freezer.
It doesn’t even need to be a big batch either. Lately I have been also putting single servings of a meal into a freezer friendly container for future lunches portions.
3. Abundance.
Apple’s turning brown? I’ll add them to the crockpot with some cinnamon and turn it into applesauce- which can be eaten right away or frozen.
Extra cheese? I’ll freeze it! I do this for portion control (we are mostly dairy free here).
Those extra leeks I had bought because I wanted to make potato leek soup and never got to – added them to my freezer stash of scraps to make broth!
Filling your freezer isn’t always about a sprint to get your freezer filled, but rather a skill to learn as an ongoing part of your kitchen routine and serve your (future) self.
I didn’t manage to do much cooking at all over the weekend; I came down with some 24 hour sickness. Thankfully my husband is good at managing in the kitchen.
Today I felt better and baked some banana oatmeal muffins! I’m trying to tweak my Grandma Dee’s Recipe but this batch, although good, didn’t rise well.
